


Priorities

by Indehed



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Coda, Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-26 08:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21371467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indehed/pseuds/Indehed
Summary: Coda for 10x07*"It means a lot to me that you follow. That you come on missions or you make sure to be here at the end."“You’d do the same for me. Though I’m usually better at not getting myself into these kinds of situations, I still know you’ll be there for me, too. We’re family.”
Relationships: Steve McGarrett & Danny "Danno" Williams
Comments: 22
Kudos: 182





	Priorities

**Author's Note:**

> coda for 10x07 picking up from exactly where the episode left off.  
I wrote it quickly, stream of consciousness, so take it for what it is!  
You can view it as slash, as gen, as rose-tinted in whichever direction you would like.
> 
> Also, there's no TV in the hotel room on the show. How on Earth that would be is beyond me. So I've put one above the dresser between the two paintings on the wall.

Shoes and jacket off, Danny got onto the bed and plumped the pillow behind his head as he sat back against the headboard. He grabbed the remote control from the side table and began flicking through the channels aimlessly. He wasn’t looking for entertainment, he wasn’t even looking for anything that could be considered a distraction. He was just looking for background noise. 

Eventually, he settled on ESPN and let the commentators’ voices and the sound of a crowd in the background wash over him. He heard Steve finishing up in the bathroom and as the door opened, he turned his head to watch. 

He raised his eyebrows as if to ask ‘and...?’ while Steve just stood in the doorway for a moment, gave a brief sigh then plodded over to the bed and sat on the end, his eyes wandering up to the screen though he had no interest in what he was watching, as Danny completely expected. 

“When was the last time you slept?” Danny asked, his voice pitched low so as not to jar Steve’s attention.

“I dunno,” Steve answered, shrugging with difficulty because of his shoulder wound. “It’s not been a priority.”

“What are you talking about? You don’t sleep then you don’t function, that’s how humans work. Most humans, anyway. I know you’re not entirely one of us. But I’m pretty sure you still need sleep, too.”

Steve turned his head around to Danny. “Says the man who regularly goes through bouts of insomnia?”

“Yes, which is why I know that not getting decent sleep is a bad thing. And I know you know it too because this isn’t your first rodeo with...” He didn’t know what to call it and his pause went on so long that he just didn’t bother filling in the tragic Madlib.

Steve decided finally to scooch back on the bed so that he was sitting up against the headboard beside Danny, a grimace on his face each time he slightly jarred his shoulder. He sighed long and closed his eyes as he tipped his head back. Danny just watched, waiting for Steve when he was ready to use his words. 

“I’ll be fine,” Steve said finally, not moving but knowing Danny was watching. 

“If it was my mother I’d be a wreck,” Danny started. “You’re allowed to be one too.”

“I don’t think we can really compare the merits of our mothers.”

“Doesn’t matter. She was your mother, no matter what else she was, what she did, what mistakes she made.”

Steve rubbed at his eyes, clearing them of tears that somehow wanted but refused to fall, then he opened his eyes and looked back at Danny. He reached his hand out and patted Danny’s thigh, leaving his hand there. “Thank you. That’s good of you to say even though I know you had issues with her. There’s a lot I’ll never forgive her for - including sacrificing you to the Colombians - and I think that’s what really makes all this worse. That she’s gone, that she made a lot of decisions that I don’t agree with, that I couldn’t condone...”

“And she was still your mom and you still loved her.” Danny finished for him. “You’re allowed to be conflicted by all of that.”

“It’s what keeps me awake at night. Not the loss... she wasn’t around for so much of my life, I never knew where she was, she lied for so many years about not being dead in the first place,” Steve snorted with a hint of derision in his voice. “It's difficult to see this as a loss. Instead I just keep thinking about all the missed opportunities we can't make up for now. All the things I wanted us to be able to sit down and talk about. Things I could yell at her about and things that I just wanted my mom to know about me and about my life.”

Danny thought about his weekly calls and video chats with his mom that he had to this day. The way they shared what was going on in their lives even though they lived so far apart. And he thought about how many of those conversations that weren’t just between him and his mom and with Grace and Charlie... but the amount where Steve was right there beside him, both sitting at the kitchen table with Danny’s iPad on its stand as they laughed and shared stories of the week. And he knew Steve was thinking about those too and wishing he could have had them with his own mom. 

Danny put his hand on top of Steve’s and squeezed. “My mom will adopt you. You can talk and yell at her as much as you like.”

Steve laughed, his head falling forward as he did so, happy to let something out from inside him, even if it was a fleeting release. “I love your mom.”

“She loves you, too.”

Steve looked past Danny to the big window at the other end of the room. The sun had been going down before Danny arrived and now it was pretty much dark outside. He got up again and went to close the curtains, absently picking up and checking the bottles that were on the table to see if any had beer left in them. He found one with a little bit left - Danny’s one - and downed the last of it. 

He motioned with his head to where Danny had dumped his bag. “How many days did you plan to be here?”

“I wasn’t sure but I figured a couple at best and I brought a change of clothes for you, too. Everyone wants to get you home, not just me.”

“They doing okay? The last few months... everything went okay with cases and stuff?”

“Hawaii is still there and with a distinct lack of explosions,” Danny answered. “Everyone’s good. And Tani demanded that Junior get back quick after getting you so she could see he was okay. Those two are still dancing around whatever the hell they are to each other. Over two years and still they just make awkward eyes at each other.”

Steve raised his eyebrows as he looked at Danny who cleared his throat at the scrutiny of just how long a dance could go on for and he swung his legs back over the side of the bed. “I’m going to take my toothbrush out of my bag and get ready for bed. You may not be planning on getting any real sleep but my flight had a lot of turbulence so I’m exhausted.”

By the time Danny came back from the bathroom, Steve had pulled down the bed so it was ready though he wasn’t in it. He was back to sitting on the couch. Danny had decided that the only way to convince Steve to get sleep - or to at least lie down properly - was to lead by example. 

He took his clothes off and folded them up, putting them in one of the dresser drawers. In just his underwear, he went over to Steve and reached a hand out. “Come on, you can’t wear jeans to bed.”

“Right,” Steve answered. 

“Let me help you with that,” Danny reached out and helped unclip his sling and then didn’t bother letting Steve struggle with his clothes, instead he just kept going and pulled up on Steve’s sweater to get it over his head, then working on his jeans, getting them down and off. Steve let him do it all with a slightly glazed expression on his face and then allowed himself to be led to the bed and put back down on it. Danny even made sure to take him to the correct side of the bed that he knew Steve liked to sleep on. Handy that it was the opposite side from the one Danny liked to sleep on. That, at least, was one argument they never had to have.

“Lie down,” he said. 

“You going to tuck me in, too?”

“If you need it, sure,” he smiled, but then just turned out the lights and TV and moved around the bed and climbed in on his side, sorting out the covers over them both. He lay, looking at the ceiling, both men in similar positions, their breathing evident in the dark.

“I can’t lose anyone else, Danny,” Steve mumbled. 

Danny turned his head towards Steve who was still staring straight up. “That’s a big thing to say.”

“It’s how I feel,” he answered then took more quiet beats before continuing. “I never had many people in my life I really cared about. And now pretty much everyone from before I was in Five-0 is gone. My parents, Freddie, Joe... now I’ve got more people in my life that I love than I’ve ever had before. Being a civilian has changed how easy it is for me to let people into my life and losing Joe and Doris, what goes through my head is how I’d feel if I also lost someone else. Someone who was in my life more than them. Maybe someone who is there almost every day. And I can’t go through that.”

“You sound a lot like me, buddy,” Danny said. “Worst case scenario is supposed to be my thing, not yours. It’s why I struggle to sleep at night on my bad days when something makes me think about losing the people I love and how I’d go on. I don’t have an answer for you except that you keep going for the other people that you love, too.”

“I’m sorry that I make you worry about me.”

“Shut up.”

“No, I mean it. With the radiation poisoning and the long missions where you can’t follow, at least not at first. I know I don’t make things easy for you.”

“No you don’t.”

“I worry about you, too.”

“I know.”

“I go through the door first for a reason.”

“I’ve always known that.”

“Good. It means a lot to me that you follow. That you come on missions or you make sure to be here at the end.”

“You’d do the same for me. Though I’m usually better at not getting myself into these kinds of situations, I still know you’ll be there for me, too. We’re family.” He turned onto his side and reached his hand out, seeking Steve’s, only to remember that it was his injured side. He placed his hand over Steve’s chest instead and Steve lifted his good hand to place on top of Danny’s and their fingers twined together.

They fell into silence and it was enough to lull them into some kind of uneasy rest. 

Danny was too worried about Steve, sick with it though hiding it well as he supported his friend and he spent most of the night jolting back awake to make sure Steve was still beside him. For his part, Steve wasn’t able to switch off his brain for long enough to sleep and when he did, he was faced with nightmares about his mom - about her first ‘death’, about her real death and what he could have done differently to save her.

By the time it was morning, Danny had somehow scooted closer in the night and was almost plastered to Steve’s side but careful of his injuries. He woke from another short nap to find Steve already awake again and sitting up a little higher on the pillows. 

His mouth brushed against Danny’s hair as he turned into him. “Morning.”

“Looks like,” Danny answered and pushed up, leaning on his elbow. “You didn’t seem like you slept much,” he said with sympathy. 

“You kidding? I got more than I’ve had in a long time.”

Danny narrowed his eyes. “Are you just saying that to stop me worrying?”

Steve looked at him, a battle of eye contact. “You need to shower. You smell of plane.”

“You need to shave. You look like a hobo,” Danny shot back but he got out of the bed and walked around it to the bathroom. He showered quickly, not wanting to leave Steve alone for too long, though also hoping he might have tried to get a little more sleep.

Towel wrapped around his waist, he went back out to find Steve sitting up. They swapped over, allowing Steve to hit the head though washing was difficult with his bad shoulder and his shower seemed to go longer than he’d usually like as he worked around it. Danny took that opportunity to get dressed and to get Steve’s clothes out of the bag he’d brought. He had a pair of dark cargo pants and one of Steve’s favourite sweaters, hoping that home comforts and something familiar would help him. And the t-shirt he’d brought him to wear underneath, well that he just hoped would bring a smile to his face or allow for some gentle ribbing.

Steve took one look at it lying on the bed and asked , “Seriously? That’s what you brought me?”

“It was at the top of the drawer,” he held his hands up innocently, looking for the playful fight. 

“It was at the bottom and you know it. I should give it to Eddie to tear apart.”

“You’re the one who bought the box from Kamekona, not me.”

“To burn them before anyone could get their hands on them.”

“Yet you kept one at the bottom of your t-shirt drawer.”

“A-ha! I knew it was at the bottom!” He crowed triumphantly with more of a strong voice than Danny had heard the night before as he pulled it on slowly, the restaurant cartoon design Kamekona had made for them emblazoned brightly on the front of the white tee.

Danny ignored the location of the t-shirt or the reason as to why Steve had kept one, in favor of another question he’d never got a straight answer to. “If you wanted to burn all of them, how come Grace has one?”

“You know how good she is at wrapping Kamekona around her little finger. She gave him those soft eyes and he handed a bunch over to her - _for free no less_ \- before he sold the rest to me. Last I heard she wanted them for blackmail purposes.”

“Yeah, she’s still sitting on that one for when she really needs it,” Danny shook his head. “Stop messing around with that and let me fix it,” he said as he watched Steve fiddle with the sling again and he helped put it into the proper place. He then reached up and tugged at Steve’s beard. “Seriously, this needs to go.”

“It’s not been a priority. And it’s difficult to shave with one arm out of commission.”

“Then it’s a good job I brought supplies,” he reached into his bag and brought out both an electric shavor and pair of small scissors. 

“How big is your bag, Mary Poppins, huh?” Steve asked as Danny seemed to have everything he was needing in that thing, but he'd been given such a thorough update from Junior about Steve's current state that of course, he had everything he'd need with him.

“Just get your ass into the bathroom and let’s sort this face situation out.” He shoved Steve’s lower back to get him moving and once over the sink, he stood by Steve’s side. He used the scissors to cut away the length of beard as much as possible, then used the electric shaver to get the hairs shorter, while Steve complained that he could have done this much himself and Danny reminded him of his ‘one hand’ excuse as to why he hadn’t done it himself. “When you get back to Honolulu you can go see O’dell and get a close shave but this will get you a little more to being yourself again.”

“You don’t think I suit a beard?”

“I don’t think you suit a beard,” he shrugged as he moved them so that Steve was standing in front of him and he was holding him by the chin, moving his head around to see if he missed any areas. He neglected to mention how a beard seemed to signify an emotional Steve because he grew one when he stopped caring about taking care of himself, or it signified full on SEAL Steve who didn’t have time to shave. Both Steves indicated needing taken care of though and that was when Danny always stepped in.

Having a Steve with no more than a little stubble meant that he was turning a corner even if he wasn’t all the way there yet. It meant he wasn’t so stuck in what had been occupying his time and mind and was an important step forward. And both men knew it. 

“Much better,” Danny said, a finger trailing over one of the newer scratches before he dropped his hand. “That’s a proper face.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Steve said as he ran his hands over the stubble he’d been left with and his stomach rumbled. 

“You been ignoring that, too?” Danny asked, pointing to Steve’s belly. 

“It hasn’t been a priority,” he said, in the same kind of way he’d answered Danny’s question about sleep the night before. 

“Then it’s a good thing this hotel does buffet breakfasts that start at 7 am. You need pancakes.”

He was able to get Steve out of the door. It felt like he was getting him out of a hovel, even if the hotel was a nice one. He knew that if he hadn’t been here, Steve would just be holed up until he finally got to the airport for a flight home, continuing to ignore personal hygiene, hunger and tiredness until then. The fact that Steve wasn’t putting up much of a fight was the important part and was a small victory that Danny claimed.

He put Steve in a seat in the restaurant and got him a coffee, a glass of juice and filled a plate with all the morning foods that Steve tried not to have but serectly loved. He did the same for himself and spent breakfast encouraging Steve to keep eating: _I know my pancakes are better and I’ll make you some when we get home but you gotta eat now too. This is really good bacon and eggs. Eat your waffles before the syrup makes them too mooshy. If Charlie finds out you barely ate he’s going to be really disappointed in you considering how often you encourage him to eat different things._

Danny signed for their breakfast against the room number and they went back up to the room. He had noticed a few people glance their way, noticing Steve’s injuries from the scratches on his face and neck to the sling he had on. A lot of people in the hotel were military or military adjacent considering its location close to a base so Danny could see the understanding and sympathy on their faces even if they didn’t know what kind of mission Steve was back from. And he saw the way he was looked at too, with the same sympanthy reserved for the partner left behind while the other was at war. It was good to get Steve back to somewhere that was more private, but he still knew he was right to get Steve integrated into public settings more and more. 

He threw the room key onto the dresser and looked around. “So do you want to go home today or do you need a little longer?”

“What would you do if I said I didn’t want to go home for a while. What if I said I needed a month or more.”

“I’d say we need to go shopping because we don’t have nearly enough clothes or supplies.”

“You’d stay with me until I said I was ready?”

“You’re asking me like you don’t already know the answer.”

“What about Grace and Charlie?”

“They’re doing fine. They’re worried about you, too. And neither of them have been going through what you have recently. You need me more right now.”

Steve moved closer and put his one good arm around Danny drawing him into a hug and dropping his nose into Danny’s neck, breathing deep. “Let’s go home.”

“You sure?” Danny asked as they pulled back. “If you’re not ready to see people yet, that’s fine.”

Steve cupped Danny’s cheek and smiled before dropping his hand. “You need to carry everything. I can’t right now,” he indicated his sling.

“Taking advantage of the situation.”

“And there’s a scheduled flight to Hickam leaving this afternoon we can be on.”

“God forbid you pay for your own flight home.”

“And you promised me pancakes when we get there.”

“Aaaand selective hearing. All three things that prove you are indeed, Steve McGarrett.”

“Let’s go home,” Steve repeated and Danny knew he wasn’t just putting on an act. He was going to be okay. He’d keep his eye on him for a little while longer, but he’d be okay.


End file.
